University of Illinois (University of Illinois, University Library)

A collaboration led by the University of Illinois will advance low-barrier methods to produce authentic, renderable, and usable email packages. The report “The Future of Email Archives” noted an outstanding need, nationally and beyond, for archives, libraries, and museums to adopt easy‐to‐implement practices for capturing, preserving, and distributing email records. This project phase will supply three deliverables: (1) an academic/industry partnership, centered in the activities of a liaison working group hosted by the nonprofit PDF Association; (2) a detailed technical specification for the EA-PDF (email archives in PDF) file format, including requirements for EA-PDF viewing software and guidance for implementers; and (3) A proof-of-concept, open-source EA-PDF writer. By engaging relevant communities of practice in industry and in government, academic, community, and museum archives, the project is assured of relevance and of the successful transition to real-world archiving applications.